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Posted on: January 18, 2019

Little Elm ISD School Board Approves Funding for New Curriculum

Little Elm ISD will be purchasing curriculum through the Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative known as TEKS Resource Systems. TEKS stands for Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills which are learning standards mandated by the state.

During Monday’s school board meeting, District administrators asked the Board of Trustees to approve the funding to purchase the curriculum for English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.

Dr. Cyndy Mika, assistant superintendent for School Improvement and Accountability addressed the board about how purchasing the curriculum would help the District. “We’ve been pulling our teachers out of the classroom to help us write curriculum and write assessments. When the state continually changes the requirements of the TEKS, it becomes increasingly harder for us and Districts across the state, to keep up with our curriculum writing,” Mika said.

Doug Sevier, director for Curriculum and Learning said he’s working with a solid team of coordinators who are working hard for teachers. “It’s hard to fly a plane when you’re still building it, which is what we’ve been doing with our curriculum,” said Sevier. “By investing in this curriculum, we’re no longer building the plane, we’re telling the plane where to go.”

The school board unanimously voted to approve the funding to purchase the curriculum.

“An audit of our District’s curriculum was completed in the fall. Even though the final results aren’t available until March, we know after speaking to the auditors that we have gaps in our curriculum,” said Daniel Gallagher, superintendent. “By purchasing a guaranteed and viable curriculum, it is a win for teachers and students.”

TEKS Resource Systems provides school districts curriculum that is aligned with what the state of Texas has determined students are expected to learn. Teachers can spend more time focusing on students and improving the learning environment in schools. Roughly 75% of school districts use TEKS Resource Systems as its source for curriculum which is maintained by 20 Educational Service Centers across the state.

The District plans to hold a summer training for teachers about the new curriculum in order to be ready for the 2019-2020 school year.